The Distinction between Mind and Body Essay

Descartes’ “dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum” asserts that through the doubt of the existence of the outside world we

In his groundbreaking work, Meditations on First Philosophy, the French philosopher Rene Descartes lays the groundwork for many philosophical principles by attempting to “establish a bold and lasting knowledge” (171)1. The foundations for knowledge Descartes established would go on to influence a plethora of other philosophers and philosophical works. Descartes argues in his meditations first from the point of view of complete skepticism, using skepticism as a tool in order to discover what is real. Through this method, Descartes explains the existence of man as a “thinking thing,” the capacity for human error, the overall trustworthiness of our senses, the existence of a physical world, the mind and body as separate

Descartes at a point doubted everything, and he believed that everything he saw, everything he believed was real was false and that nothing existed as well as himself. He doubted everything that could be doubted and threw anything that might be wrong. He believed that we are probably dreaming and everything around us was false and that what we believe we are seeing or hearing was being controlled by someone or something else, that maybe we are not who we think we are. Therefore Descartes eliminated everything, but got to a point that he knew that he is a thinking thing and therefore he got to exist.

Descartes also finds that anything that exists physically is false, even including his own body. The only things we should trust are those beliefs that can be held up to rational scrutiny. Thus Descartes doubts everything but himself, he feels himself is the only thing in this life which cannot be proven false. He states that if he had no knowledge of himself than nothing can be certain. If he himself can doubt than he must exist and in cannot be proven false. Another proof that he exists is that in order to be deceived one must be able to exist. Descartes states in his famous quote, "I think, therefore I am."

‘Meditations’ outlines Descartes’ method of justifying, through reasoning alone, his initial beliefs concerning the existence of reality as he perceives it. This challenge of scepticism is itself achieved through adopting a temporary sceptical approach in meditations 1 and 2. By way of mental deconstruction and evaluation of all that he had previously considered true, Descartes is left with only the elements that he is able to ascertain are ‘certain and indubitable’ . He first asserts our apparent inability to distrust our senses in distinguishing reality from illusion. This process forms the foundations from which he may

In his Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to prove the existence and reality of himself and things external to himself. In order to fulfill such a feat, Descartes decides to doubt all that he knows, for he knows not whether that can be relied upon. He doubts his knowledge for three main reasons.

Descartes says the mind is distinct from the body, or anything physical for that matter. He says, a thinking substance is nonphysical or spiritual in nature (mind), and an extended substance is physical, but not capable of consciousness or thought (body). However, this very claim is also his biggest problem as his mind – body interaction has many critics and to some, can seem invalid. This is mainly due to the challenge by those who ask how mind and body can interact if they are two different substances altogether. Over Descartes' period of teaching, he has conceived many arguments to support his view of

Descartes’ argues that the mind is distinct from the body, with the reason that the mind and the body are differing in their essence. In Meditation Six, Descartes notices several differences between the mind and the body’s essence. He claims that the mind has the essence of thinking, and that it is “utterly indivisible”, which therefore makes it not extended also, whereas the body does not have the essence of thinking, and it is extended due to it being “always divisible” (Meditation Six 6). In other words, Descartes believes that the body takes up

In Descartes, What Can Be Called to Doubt, he discusses whether or not everything around us is real, or fake. He believes that there are opinions we form that are false, but we fail to realize it. So, by questioning each belief, one could then find the truth in what we believe. He also states that most of our beliefs we get from using our senses. Then he questions our senses in the context of dreaming. When dreaming you cant tell if you are awake or not. At this moment you could be dreaming and there would be no way to prove or disprove that. Descartes then brings God into the picture saying, "How do I know that he hasn’t brought it about that there is no earth, no sky, nothing that takes up space, no shape, no size, no place, while making

Now, Aristotle believes that we have a tendency to think that we can only define a human by its matter, but Aristotle says that this is because we have a poverty of imagination. In the same way, we cannot define a form, say a human, by an accidental composite, we can neither define the form by matter. Aristotle believes that “a strict definition will be not of man, but of the human soul, the form of man. The definition will make no mention of his matter” (Lear, 283.) He is saying that the bones, flesh, muscles, tendons, skin, etc., have no impact on the form. The essence of the human being is the human soul. This does get cloudy, but Aristotle gives an example to make it easier to understand. Aristotle say that “in the case of

In Rene Descartes Discourse on Methods and Meditations on First Philosophy Descartes aims to find the absolute truth of the world, and if he cannot know what is certainly true he want to know for certain that nothing is true. He starts by assuming that all his options are false. He establishes that everything that he takes to be true could be false and therefore he nothing he knows to be true he can believe for certain. He establishes that for the purpose of his meditations that god only exists to deceive him and nothing is certain around him. He then determines that none of his senses are sensing real things, and rather everything he sense is deception of the world. He continues his mediations to establish that the physical world is not real

In Descartes’ “First Meditation” he examines the things in the world that can be called into doubt. Descartes wants to know what things he could be absolutely sure of. He decides that even if something is slightly false he will treat it as though it is completely false. Descartes concludes that he cannot be sure of the physical, however he is certain of his own existence and that he is a thinking thing.

In Descartes’ Second Meditation the key philosophical idea of “I think, therefore I am” is introduced and thus begins a new age in western philosophy. Some of the arguments Descartes provide in order to support his claims are that in order to doubt anything, you must be able to think and if you think, you exist. Descartes brings up the point that there may be no physical world, along with that thought comes the doubt of anything else being real, which again concludes that he is thinking which means he is real.

In The Concept of Mind, Gilbert Ryle labels the theory for mind-body dualism as “The Dogma of the Ghost in the Machine” (Ryle, 5). The argument for mind-body dualism states that two substances exist: physical substances and mental substances. ‘Physical substances are composed of matter’ (Ryle, 3). Moreover, physical substances are beings like bodies; they have a spatial location, but they cannot think. In comparison, ‘mental substances consist of consciousness’ (Ryle, 3). Mental substances are beings like minds; they can think, but they do not have a spatial location. Furthermore, the theory for mind-body dualism states that every living person has both a mind, which is a mental substance, and a body, which is a physical substance, and that the mind interacts with the body. Thus, when Ryle speaks of the ghost in a machine, he is referring to the idea that there exists a mental substance, a mind, which exists inside of the body, a physical substance. The mind is the ghost, which is inside the body,

I will do so by first examining Descartes project of Radical skepticism; what he hopes to achieve by explaining it. Then I will briefly outline some of Descartes arguments. Then I will look at Descartes argument for the existence of God. Finally I will show Descartes explanation for the existence of God. Finally, I will show Descartes proof for the existence of the outside of the world. This will frame the condition of the mind-body problem as we know it today.